Dolores County boys move on to next round in District III

Dolores County boys move on to next round in District III

Feb. 24, 2001

KEITH PIERCE of the Dolores County High School boys basketball team goes up for a block against a Telluride player Wednesday night, Feb. 21, in the District III pigtail game in Ron Wright Memorial Gym at Montezuma-Cortez High School. The Bulldogs won the game and advanced to the semifinals of the District III Tournament.

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

Dolores County’s High School boys basketball game against Telluride Wednesday night, Feb. 21, was a good one with the Bulldogs winning 58-54 in a District III pigtail game played at Montezuma-Cortez High School.

The Bulldogs earned the right to advance into the field of four of the District III Tournament which got under way Friday night and will conclude with the championship game (for seeding into next week’s Regionals) at about 2:30 p.m. today, Feb. 24, in Ron Wright Memorial Gym at MCHS. The Bulldogs, who have won their last four straight games, were to play top-seed Nucla Friday night. An upset would put the Bulldogs back into Regionals for the second straight year. A loss would have ended their season.

In the other boys’ semifinals game Friday night, Dolores played Mancos. The winner of that game would meet the winner of the Nucla-DCHS game in the title tilt today.

Telluride shot right over the Bulldog defense during the first period of the pigtail game. Spencer Stern hit three three-pointers and scored another basket. Tyler Erskine helped the Miners to a 9-4 lead with six minutes left. But Chris Kail canned a three which cut the score to 12-9 a few minutes later. Erskine banked in a shot for 16-9 Telluride lead at which time head coach Scott Crawford called time with 3:38 to play. Keith Pierce made a nice putback for Dove Creek which trimmed Telluride’s lead to 16-13. Dolores County just was not going to the boards well, both offensively or defensively. Telluride continued its hot shooting and jumped to a 24-16 lead when the quarter closed.

"We should have been stopping them (Telluride’s threes) from the get-go," Crawford said after the game. "We just sorta let them shoot. I don’t care who you play, but if you don’t close out on the shooter it is like you left him by himself out on the floor."

The Bulldogs did spread out the defense a little more early in the second quarter. The Bulldogs also pressed which created some problems for the Miners. Lyle Joe made a putback which cut Telluride’s lead to 25-19. Kail hit a three from the wing which cut the difference to three at 25-22. Pierce tied it a few seconds later at 27-all with 2:25 to play. Dove Creek finally pulled ahead just before the half closed to lead 30-28 at the intermission.

Dove Creek played a little more aggressively on defense in the third. Pierce’s strong rebound and bucket underneath gave the Bulldogs a 32-28 advantage. Pierce scored off a three-point attempt when he pulled down a rebound and put it back at 38-30 with 4:21 to play. Erskine and Kail traded threes. DCHS led 43-34 with 2:08 to play. Dove Creek led 43-36 when the third quarter closed.

Telluride pressed but Dove Creek managed to break it early in the fourth period. The Miners then utilized a tough 1-3-1 matchup zone which proved tough. Justin Ludwig made a nice cut to the basket for a layup to trim the Bulldogs’ lead to 45-41. Erskine made a steal and layup a couple seconds later to make it 45-43. The Bulldogs led by just one point at4 48-47 with 3:23 to go. Telluride pulled back ahead at 52-51 when Erskine made a hook shot from the lane. DCHS’s Dallas Coker hit a clutch three at 54-52 with just under a minute to play. Piece made an old fashioned three-point play with 44 seconds left which put the Bulldogs up 57-52. Coker later made one of two free throws which iced the game at 58-54 with 16 seconds showing on the clock.

"Telluride’s jump shots killed us," Crawford added. "Teams have been doing it all season against us. It usually isn’t just one kid, it is three or four kids. We’ve got to stop that and for us to get to the foul line. The Telluride press hurt us because we did not want to play hard. But when it mattered, Dallas hit a three and then hit a free throw."

Pierce paced all scorers with 23 while teammates Kail added 13 and Coker eight. Erskine gunned in 23 and Stern added 15 for Telluride.

The girls semifinals Friday nigtht pitted Dolores against Mancos and Nucla-Telluride. The championship game is set for 1 p.m. today, also in Ron Wright Memorial Gym at MCHS.

The top two boys and girls teams head to the Grand Junction area for Regionals on March 3. The winners there will go to the Class 2A State Basketball Tournament in the Pueblo Events Center March 8-10.